• Tata Power: Board approved merger of wholly-owned arms Coastal Gujarat Power (Mundra UMPP) and Tata Power Solar System (Solar EPC business) and Af-Taab Investment with itself, along with capital reorganization after the merger. Coastal Gujarat Power to get direct support from parent company upon merger.
• Affle India: To acquire 8% stake in Bobble AI, the conversation media platform offering indigenous social keyboard for Rs 19.8 crore. It also has the option to acquire incremental ownership on attainment of certain key performance targets within the next three years. The company has secured exclusive global and monetisation rights of Bobble AI's tech products for a period of five years.
• Coal India: Bloomberg News reports that the company is seeking 15% reduction in railway freight charges for shipments travelling between 700-1,400 kilometers, in order to make domestic supplies competitive with imports. Domestic coal is considerably cheaper than imports, but taxes and freight makes it less competitive for some customers especially in South and West India, according to the company's e-mailed statement.
• InterGlobe Aviation: Jwalamukhi Investment Holdings acquired 54.35 lakh shares (1.41%) at Rs 1,028 per share and Kotak Mahindra (International) sold 54.35 lakh shares (1.41%) at Rs 1,028 per share.
• Brigade Enterprises: Board approved raising up to Rs 500 crore via equity shares and debt. Company expects construction to resume at 100% levels by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2021.
• Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: Rights issue was subscribed approximately 1.3 times, resulting in a demand generation of over Rs 4,000 crore. as compared to a target of Rs 3,088.8 crore.
• Nifty Earnings Today: GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, BPCL, Grasim, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel
• Non-Nifty Earnings Today: APL Apollo, Balkrishna Industries, City Union Bank, DCM Shriram, Engineers India, Godrej Industries, Kaveri Seed, Minda Corp, PFC, Praj Industries, Redington India, Prestige Estates, Safari Industries, Shankara Building Products, Sharda Cropchem, Shriram Transport Finance, Trent, Venky's

To know details about the earnings reported after market hours, key brokerage updates and more, click here.

Good Morning!

Indian equity markets paused their gaining rally, before heading into the weekly options expiry session.

The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, remained flat at 11,319 as of 8:00 a.m. on Thursday.

The street will keep an eye on stocks like Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Cummins India and Aarti Industries, among others, that reported their quarterly earnings after market hours on Wednesday.

Six Nifty 50 companies—Tata Steel, GAIL, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors, Grasim and Bharat Petroleum—are set to announce results for the quarter ended June today. Broader market stocks like APL Apollo Tubes, Balkrishna Industries, City Union Bank, Kaveri Seed, Praj Industries and Shriram Transport, too, will announce their financials.

Asian markets are trading higher after their peers on Wall Street briefly scaled their record high levels led by technology stocks. Markets in Japan and South Korea are advancing, while those in China are flat. Australian shares are underperforming.

Futures on the Dow Jones are trading flat. The index ended 1% higher on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude was flat, while gold traded 1.2% higher at $1,938.35/Oz.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.